Pontoon boats are a popular form of watercraft for recreational use. A number of arrangements have been developed and utilized in association with pontoon boats to enable them to go faster than boats employing pontoons having round cross sections, which stay submerged to a considerable degree during use, essentially “plowing” through the water as the boat is propelled forward by an associated motor or motors.
One such development has been the adoption and use of lifting strakes in association with round pontoons.
Another approach has been to provide pontoons having hull-like configurations aimed at lifting and planing across the water.
The following patent documents are considered representative of the current state of the prior art relating to hull-like pontoon constructions: U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,677, issued Jul. 11, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 7,827,926, issued Nov. 9, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 7,458,327, issued Dec. 2, 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 7,798,088, issued Sep. 21, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,762, issued Jan. 25, 2000, U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,552, issued Jul. 29, 2003, U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,650, issued Nov. 5, 1996, U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,561, issued Feb. 9, 1993 and U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US 2009/0031939, published Feb. 5, 2009.